1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a component joining structure including a body component formed of a resin material, and a cover component that is formed of a metal material and is provided in the form of a cover covering at least part of the body component, wherein the body component and the cover component are joined together, and also relates to an IC card and a connector that include such a component joining structure.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, as a component joining structure including a body component formed of a resin material and a cover component that is formed of a metal material and is provided in the form of a cover covering the body component, wherein the body component and the cover component are joined together, structures applied to IC cards are known (see Japanese Patent No. 3132355 and JP 2000-293654A). In the component joining structure disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3132355, a bent portion is formed at an end face of a metal cover component (metal panel 4), and a hole is provided in this bent portion. This structure is configured so that the cover component is joined with ultrasonic welding to a resin body component (resin body case 1) at this bent portion.
In the component joining structure disclosed in JP 2000-293654A, a metal cover component (second panel 7), and a resin body component (frame 4) to which another metal cover component (first panel 6) is integrally fixed by simultaneous molding are provided. This structure is configured so that a locking member provided in the cover component and a locking member provided in the other cover component engage, thereby joining the cover component and the body component together.
For a product, such as an IC card, in which a component joining structure in which a body component and a cover component are joined together is provided, either a component joining structure as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3132355 that uses an ultrasonic welding system, or a component joining structure as disclosed in JP 2000-293654A that uses a mechanical locking system in which locking members are engaged with each other, is selected. Which of the structure using an ultrasonic welding system and the structure using a mechanical locking system is selected is determined according to various circumstances such as manufacturing reasons or required specifications on the part of a user or the like who, for example, performs final assembly of a product such as an IC card in which a component joining structure is provided, or uses such a product. For this reason, when a component joining structure for joining a body component and a cover component together is provided to a user or the like, a desired component joining structure using either an ultrasonic welding system or a mechanical locking system is provided in accordance with various circumstances as noted above.
As described above, in order to provide a component joining structure that satisfies needs, it is necessary to be able to provide both a component joining structure using an ultrasonic welding system and a component joining structure using a mechanical locking system. For this reason, it is necessary to fabricate two types of components of different joining systems. For this purpose, it is also necessary to prepare manufacturing facilities and molds with different specifications. Moreover, when a component joining structure is produced, various types of production control such as production process control, quality control and inventory control will need to be performed for each of the two types of components. This would lead to an undesirable increase in the number of components, equipment costs, and production control costs.